GUEST COLUMNIST: Constitution’s foundation based in religion

Published: Sunday, February 10, 2013 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, February 9, 2013 at 3:27 p.m.

A few weeks ago, I was listening to Bill O’Reilly on the Fox Channel, who was in a dispute with one of his guests on the nature of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

The guest basically contended there was no religious expression, thought or words in either document, and it was a secular expression of the natural rights of man.

O’Reilly, usually a pretty good student of history, said simply that his opponent was wrong and did not know how deeply Christianity ran through the documents in question.

O’Reilly needed to connect the dots, by which I mean relate the expressions in the Declaration and the Constitution to basic Christian doctrine on the natural rights of all men, found in the Bible, explained by the brilliance of St. Thomas Aquinas, imbibed by John Locke and Thomas Jefferson and expressed with clarity in the Declaration and the Constitution.

William Blackstone (1723-1780), one of greatest expositors of common law in England, and much quoted and used to interpret law in this country, wrote in his famed Commentaries on the Laws of England that “man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his creator, for he is an entirely dependent being ... and consequently as man depends absolutely upon his maker for every thing, it is necessary that he should in all points conform to his maker’s will. This will of his maker is called the law of nature.”

Among pre-Christian philosophers, Aristotle stands above the rest, and he wrote that laws of nature governed the world, and if one applied reason to discern the laws of nature, they were quite apparent to all.

Aristotle and other like thinkers (Cicero, Livy and others) were often credited by Jefferson, John Adams and others for the sources of their thinking. Adams wrote that the principles of the American Revolution “are the principles of Aristotle and Plato, of Livy and Cicero, and Sidney, Harrington and Locke; the principles of nature and eternal reason; the principles on which the whole government over us now stands.”

While Aristotle lived centuries before Christ, he generally ascribed the existence of the laws of nature to a higher will, or God, seeing as how he wrote that the ultimate causes of nature are divine.

In Christian writing, the apostle Paul is the pre-eminent thinker and expositor of Christian doctrine among the apostles and early Church fathers.

He wrote to the Christian church of Rome in Romans 2:14-15 and told them that even Gentiles had the natural laws of God written on their hearts. There is a general awareness of right and wrong on all people’s hearts and consciences, Christians or not.

Other great Christian thinkers added to the storehouse of knowledge about natural laws created by God. Of these, Aquinas, a Dominican scholar of the 13th century, explained most fully how faith and reason intersected, and he also identified the system of natural law as the standard for civil law and government.

Aquinas wrote that since God created everything, he undoubtedly also created nature and laws. There are four kinds of laws — eternal laws (God’s laws); divine law, the revelations of the Bible; natural law, the laws of nature discerned by man through reason; and human law, laws made by man and his reason for the common good.

People tend to look after their own good or self-interest, therefore some governing power must be created to direct people toward the “common good” — a phrase also common to Plato and Aristotle — for example, when describing the role of government.

The philosophy of Aquinas came down to Jefferson, Madison, Adams and others indirectly through John Locke and company. A medieval friar ensconced in another world Aquinas may have been, but observe what he wrote about natural law and its violation by men.

Those unjust rulers who violated natural law became tyrants. Aquinas concluded that a “tyrannical government (like the one of King George III Jefferson thought) is not just, because it is directed not to the common good, but to the private good of the ruler, as the Philosopher (Aristotle) says ... ” and so, “what should the people do about a tyranny?”

Augustine and Aquinas stated pretty unequivocally that a people did not have to obey laws if they are illegitimate. Subjects might rebel against a tyrant and depose him. This should not be done in haste, but is one of the first justifications for rebellion and revolution in Western thought. Does it sound familiar?

“ ... when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” (Declaration of Independence)

You might think, but the 18th century was the Age of Reason, The Enlightenment prevailed and ancient wisdom, laws and traditions were replaced with man’s reason as the foundation of all knowledge.

Secular approaches to the truth did in fact prevail in the age of reason, and the Founding Fathers were enthusiastic subscribers to the new virtue, but — and the “but” is often the most important part of any compound sentence — they were also deeply read in classic, Christian and modern political theory. They knew much of John Locke probably by heart, and Jefferson paraphrased Locke in the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson, often portrayed as a radical secularist, was far too complicated for easy characterizing, and he drew on Scripture for some of the most important acts in founding the nation.

Jon Meacham writes in his brilliant new biography of Jefferson that one of Jefferson’s duties was the design of a seal for the new nation. Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were on the same committee. Adams suggested the parting of the Red Sea as metaphor and Jefferson picked up on it.

Jefferson envisioned Moses representing the Founding Father, the pharaoh was George III, and the Americans as the Israelites being led from bondage.

This is hardly a man who despised religion and looked to reason for his sole source of truth, although he was suspicious of organized religion (read the Church of England), which depended upon government support for its existence.

Aquinas and Locke founded their political theory on natural law. While many interpretations arise from this premise, they viewed natural law and natural rights as God-given and easily traceable back to Scripture, especially passages from the Apostle Paul, and then to the pre-Christian philosophers such as Aristotle who saw a divine hand moving the actions of men.

Greg Foster, in his book on Starting with Locke, noted that “during the siege of Boston in the winter of 1775-1776, warships commissioned by George Washington bore flags that declared, in large black letters on a white background, “AN APPEAL TO HEAVEN.” The flag was adopted by the Massachusetts Navy in April 1776.”

As a Navy veteran, it’s nice to know my old service was well aware of the source of its power. It came not only from guns and cannons, but mainly from God, although guns sometimes are quite useful in any fight for rights and liberties, and to overthrow an occasional tyrant now and then.

<p>A few weeks ago, I was listening to Bill O'Reilly on the Fox Channel, who was in a dispute with one of his guests on the nature of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.</p><p>The guest basically contended there was no religious expression, thought or words in either document, and it was a secular expression of the natural rights of man.</p><p>O'Reilly, usually a pretty good student of history, said simply that his opponent was wrong and did not know how deeply Christianity ran through the documents in question.</p><p>O'Reilly needed to connect the dots, by which I mean relate the expressions in the Declaration and the Constitution to basic Christian doctrine on the natural rights of all men, found in the Bible, explained by the brilliance of St. Thomas Aquinas, imbibed by John Locke and Thomas Jefferson and expressed with clarity in the Declaration and the Constitution.</p><p>William Blackstone (1723-1780), one of greatest expositors of common law in England, and much quoted and used to interpret law in this country, wrote in his famed Commentaries on the Laws of England that “man, considered as a creature, must necessarily be subject to the laws of his creator, for he is an entirely dependent being ... and consequently as man depends absolutely upon his maker for every thing, it is necessary that he should in all points conform to his maker's will. This will of his maker is called the law of nature.”</p><p>Among pre-Christian philosophers, Aristotle stands above the rest, and he wrote that laws of nature governed the world, and if one applied reason to discern the laws of nature, they were quite apparent to all. </p><p>Aristotle and other like thinkers (Cicero, Livy and others) were often credited by Jefferson, John Adams and others for the sources of their thinking. Adams wrote that the principles of the American Revolution “are the principles of Aristotle and Plato, of Livy and Cicero, and Sidney, Harrington and Locke; the principles of nature and eternal reason; the principles on which the whole government over us now stands.”</p><p>While Aristotle lived centuries before Christ, he generally ascribed the existence of the laws of nature to a higher will, or God, seeing as how he wrote that the ultimate causes of nature are divine.</p><p>In Christian writing, the apostle Paul is the pre-eminent thinker and expositor of Christian doctrine among the apostles and early Church fathers. </p><p>He wrote to the Christian church of Rome in Romans 2:14-15 and told them that even Gentiles had the natural laws of God written on their hearts. There is a general awareness of right and wrong on all people's hearts and consciences, Christians or not. </p><p>Other great Christian thinkers added to the storehouse of knowledge about natural laws created by God. Of these, Aquinas, a Dominican scholar of the 13th century, explained most fully how faith and reason intersected, and he also identified the system of natural law as the standard for civil law and government. </p><p>Aquinas wrote that since God created everything, he undoubtedly also created nature and laws. There are four kinds of laws — eternal laws (God's laws); divine law, the revelations of the Bible; natural law, the laws of nature discerned by man through reason; and human law, laws made by man and his reason for the common good.</p><p>People tend to look after their own good or self-interest, therefore some governing power must be created to direct people toward the “common good” — a phrase also common to Plato and Aristotle — for example, when describing the role of government.</p><p>The philosophy of Aquinas came down to Jefferson, Madison, Adams and others indirectly through John Locke and company. A medieval friar ensconced in another world Aquinas may have been, but observe what he wrote about natural law and its violation by men.</p><p>Those unjust rulers who violated natural law became tyrants. Aquinas concluded that a “tyrannical government (like the one of King George III Jefferson thought) is not just, because it is directed not to the common good, but to the private good of the ruler, as the Philosopher (Aristotle) says ... ” and so, “what should the people do about a tyranny?”</p><p>Augustine and Aquinas stated pretty unequivocally that a people did not have to obey laws if they are illegitimate. Subjects might rebel against a tyrant and depose him. This should not be done in haste, but is one of the first justifications for rebellion and revolution in Western thought. Does it sound familiar?</p><p>“ ... when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.” (Declaration of Independence)</p><p>You might think, but the 18th century was the Age of Reason, The Enlightenment prevailed and ancient wisdom, laws and traditions were replaced with man's reason as the foundation of all knowledge. </p><p>Secular approaches to the truth did in fact prevail in the age of reason, and the Founding Fathers were enthusiastic subscribers to the new virtue, but — and the “but” is often the most important part of any compound sentence — they were also deeply read in classic, Christian and modern political theory. They knew much of John Locke probably by heart, and Jefferson paraphrased Locke in the Declaration of Independence.</p><p>Jefferson, often portrayed as a radical secularist, was far too complicated for easy characterizing, and he drew on Scripture for some of the most important acts in founding the nation.</p><p>Jon Meacham writes in his brilliant new biography of Jefferson that one of Jefferson's duties was the design of a seal for the new nation. Benjamin Franklin and John Adams were on the same committee. Adams suggested the parting of the Red Sea as metaphor and Jefferson picked up on it. </p><p>Jefferson envisioned Moses representing the Founding Father, the pharaoh was George III, and the Americans as the Israelites being led from bondage.</p><p>This is hardly a man who despised religion and looked to reason for his sole source of truth, although he was suspicious of organized religion (read the Church of England), which depended upon government support for its existence. </p><p>Aquinas and Locke founded their political theory on natural law. While many interpretations arise from this premise, they viewed natural law and natural rights as God-given and easily traceable back to Scripture, especially passages from the Apostle Paul, and then to the pre-Christian philosophers such as Aristotle who saw a divine hand moving the actions of men.</p><p>Greg Foster, in his book on Starting with Locke, noted that “during the siege of Boston in the winter of 1775-1776, warships commissioned by George Washington bore flags that declared, in large black letters on a white background, “AN APPEAL TO HEAVEN.” The flag was adopted by the Massachusetts Navy in April 1776.”</p><p>As a Navy veteran, it's nice to know my old service was well aware of the source of its power. It came not only from guns and cannons, but mainly from God, although guns sometimes are quite useful in any fight for rights and liberties, and to overthrow an occasional tyrant now and then.</p><p>Larry Clayton is a professor of history at the University of Alabama.</p>